Yet another 1FZ-FE rebuild thread... hope there are a few things in here that may help someone down the road. First I want to say thanks to all of you who took time to answer my questions along the way and to those who have posted in the past. This forum is nothing short of incredible. What I accomplished would simply not have been possible without it. Thank you!
Background: I purchased a 1995 TLC this past Sept with a known head gasket issue. It ran fine, it would idle all day, but would overheat when driven. It was in fairly good shape, 214K miles, lockers, new leather front seats, A/C worked, etc. I got it for $3750 and it came with a spare head that previous owner was going to use to fix the issue. I was hoping to rebuild the head, put it back together and be on the road for around $5K. I bought it for my sons, was thinking we could do this job together and they would learn something.
Inspection: I first rented a block tester from O'Reilly and the fluid turned slightly green but it was honestly hard to tell. I then bought a leak-down pressure tester off Amazon and tested all the cylinders. Results were not good... the pressures were like 10-15 psi and you could hear air leaking out the exhaust and intake sides. This step was not necessary but convinced me I had some internal engine problems.
Head removed: My boys and I followed the FSM and removed the head on a Saturday. It wasn't too bad -some of the intake bolts were a challenge to find and break loose. Used lots of extensions from below. Once we got the head off the cylinder walls did not look good. I started this thread to discuss:
Cylinder Wall Question - Head Gasket Replacement
Decided to remove engine: After reading the responses I had a friend came over and take a look at it. He confirmed it was not good and that I really needed to hone/bore the cylinder walls. Turns out this was the right decision, they were scored badly and the piston skirts as well. This probably happened because the engine was overheated for some time and the aluminum pistons expanded more than the cast iron block and started rubbing. The piston sides are only about 0.001" from the cylinder wall, so it doesn't take much.
Engine removal: I decided to remove just the engine, not the transmission and xfer case. Hard to say if this was the right choice or not because I haven't done it both ways but don't regret the way I did it. The biggest issue is getting the engine to separate from the torque converter and getting engine bell around the transmission cooler line near the firewall. I pulled the engine using a friend's Harbor Freight puller - worked well.
Engine dis-assembly: Once the engine was out I started to take everything apart. It is much easier to work on things when it is out. I would be tempted to take the whole engine out if I ever had to do another head job.
Head work: I asked several local car repair shops where they took their engine work. I then went out one day and visited all of them and others I found online. It was eye opening... some were downright scary others had seemed to know what they were doing and had very impressive cars/engines in their shop. None I found had actually worked on a 1FZ-FE. I ended up choosing a place that was one of the most expensive and seemed experienced. I took both heads (one off the truck and the other given to me by the previous owner) their shop to be rebuilt and surfaced. I told them to pick which ever head looked best. I picked up the head a week later and asked how much they had to take off the surface. He said 0.030"... because it was warped. I said, "WHAT?". Long story short, he must not have bothered to check the head for straightness and didn't realize it until the last step. He said the cams turned fine and it would run fine. Well maybe for a few thousands miles... this did not sit well. When I took it apart later you could feel the cams wobble when placed on head without any valve springs in place. I had paid $500 for valve job, surface, valve adjustment and I supplied the valve seals. Turns out the other head was flat within 0.001". We worked out a deal where he would do the valve job and surface the other head for free. I was reluctant to do this but really didn't want to plunk down another $500. Either way I'm into another set of OEM valve seals at over $160. This also meant I would need to do the valve adjustment and reassemble everything myself. I purchased a valve spring tool that worked awesome from Amazon Amazon.com: Lisle 36050 Valve Keeper Remover and Installer Kit: Automotive
Lesson learned: It seems every one of these machine shops work to different tolerances and standards. It's difficult to figure this out without some help. A reputable high-end LandCruiser shop in the area would NOT give me a recommendation because they had so many issues with various machine shops. They said one time the work would be great, next awful. Best case would be to find someone who has worked on LC engines with proven success. Most of the places know Chevy and Ford engines well but a 24 valve 6-cylinder head is a new challenge. Later in my journey I called a friend who works on Porsche, Ferrari, and other exotics. He recommend the place I ended up using for the block work and they did a great job for me. I should have called him earlier. I also wish I had asked some BMW and Porsche places where they take their engine work... I think that may have resulted in a better outcome for my head.
To adjust the valves I purchased new pucks for cases where the valves were more than 0.004" out of tolerance (only needed 3). For the others I built an attachment for my Tormek grinder.
This worked well, the wheel turns very slowly and is water cooled. I made the attachment on my milling machine. I was able to take off 0.001" at time with pretty good consistency and got all the valves adjusted in about 2 hours. The jig was pretty accurate but I would spin the valve while moving it in/out on the grinding wheel. If I hadn't used the Tormek I think a disk sander would have worked if you went slowly and were careful not to overheat the valve.
More to come.
Background: I purchased a 1995 TLC this past Sept with a known head gasket issue. It ran fine, it would idle all day, but would overheat when driven. It was in fairly good shape, 214K miles, lockers, new leather front seats, A/C worked, etc. I got it for $3750 and it came with a spare head that previous owner was going to use to fix the issue. I was hoping to rebuild the head, put it back together and be on the road for around $5K. I bought it for my sons, was thinking we could do this job together and they would learn something.
Inspection: I first rented a block tester from O'Reilly and the fluid turned slightly green but it was honestly hard to tell. I then bought a leak-down pressure tester off Amazon and tested all the cylinders. Results were not good... the pressures were like 10-15 psi and you could hear air leaking out the exhaust and intake sides. This step was not necessary but convinced me I had some internal engine problems.
Head removed: My boys and I followed the FSM and removed the head on a Saturday. It wasn't too bad -some of the intake bolts were a challenge to find and break loose. Used lots of extensions from below. Once we got the head off the cylinder walls did not look good. I started this thread to discuss:
Cylinder Wall Question - Head Gasket Replacement
Decided to remove engine: After reading the responses I had a friend came over and take a look at it. He confirmed it was not good and that I really needed to hone/bore the cylinder walls. Turns out this was the right decision, they were scored badly and the piston skirts as well. This probably happened because the engine was overheated for some time and the aluminum pistons expanded more than the cast iron block and started rubbing. The piston sides are only about 0.001" from the cylinder wall, so it doesn't take much.
Engine removal: I decided to remove just the engine, not the transmission and xfer case. Hard to say if this was the right choice or not because I haven't done it both ways but don't regret the way I did it. The biggest issue is getting the engine to separate from the torque converter and getting engine bell around the transmission cooler line near the firewall. I pulled the engine using a friend's Harbor Freight puller - worked well.
Engine dis-assembly: Once the engine was out I started to take everything apart. It is much easier to work on things when it is out. I would be tempted to take the whole engine out if I ever had to do another head job.
Head work: I asked several local car repair shops where they took their engine work. I then went out one day and visited all of them and others I found online. It was eye opening... some were downright scary others had seemed to know what they were doing and had very impressive cars/engines in their shop. None I found had actually worked on a 1FZ-FE. I ended up choosing a place that was one of the most expensive and seemed experienced. I took both heads (one off the truck and the other given to me by the previous owner) their shop to be rebuilt and surfaced. I told them to pick which ever head looked best. I picked up the head a week later and asked how much they had to take off the surface. He said 0.030"... because it was warped. I said, "WHAT?". Long story short, he must not have bothered to check the head for straightness and didn't realize it until the last step. He said the cams turned fine and it would run fine. Well maybe for a few thousands miles... this did not sit well. When I took it apart later you could feel the cams wobble when placed on head without any valve springs in place. I had paid $500 for valve job, surface, valve adjustment and I supplied the valve seals. Turns out the other head was flat within 0.001". We worked out a deal where he would do the valve job and surface the other head for free. I was reluctant to do this but really didn't want to plunk down another $500. Either way I'm into another set of OEM valve seals at over $160. This also meant I would need to do the valve adjustment and reassemble everything myself. I purchased a valve spring tool that worked awesome from Amazon Amazon.com: Lisle 36050 Valve Keeper Remover and Installer Kit: Automotive
Lesson learned: It seems every one of these machine shops work to different tolerances and standards. It's difficult to figure this out without some help. A reputable high-end LandCruiser shop in the area would NOT give me a recommendation because they had so many issues with various machine shops. They said one time the work would be great, next awful. Best case would be to find someone who has worked on LC engines with proven success. Most of the places know Chevy and Ford engines well but a 24 valve 6-cylinder head is a new challenge. Later in my journey I called a friend who works on Porsche, Ferrari, and other exotics. He recommend the place I ended up using for the block work and they did a great job for me. I should have called him earlier. I also wish I had asked some BMW and Porsche places where they take their engine work... I think that may have resulted in a better outcome for my head.
To adjust the valves I purchased new pucks for cases where the valves were more than 0.004" out of tolerance (only needed 3). For the others I built an attachment for my Tormek grinder.
This worked well, the wheel turns very slowly and is water cooled. I made the attachment on my milling machine. I was able to take off 0.001" at time with pretty good consistency and got all the valves adjusted in about 2 hours. The jig was pretty accurate but I would spin the valve while moving it in/out on the grinding wheel. If I hadn't used the Tormek I think a disk sander would have worked if you went slowly and were careful not to overheat the valve.
More to come.